Legality of cannabis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canada

Main article: Cannabis legalization in Canada

Cannabis is currently illegal in Canada, with exceptions only for medical usage. The marijuana laws in Canada are currently under review as an Ontario court judge deemed the laws unconstitutional thus giving the government 90 days, as of April 13, 2011, to revamp the law. As of June 22, 2011, the prosecutor and federal government was granted a stay on the 90 day deadline, extending it by an additional 6 months, pushing the deadline back to November.

• A July 13, 2007, decision in Ontario Provincial court has ruled that criminal possession laws for cannabis are unconstitutional (R. v. Long). However, Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said that nothing will change about how the police deal with marijuana possession for the time being.^[22]

• Possession of cannabis is not illegal in Canada according to Justice Edmonson of the Ontario Court of Justice in R. v. Bodnar/Hall/Spasic - "there is no offence known to law which the accused have committed."^[23][24]
• Marijuana was first banned in Canada in 1923 under the Opium and Drug Act. Since 1997 marijuana has been covered by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/marijuana/marijuana_legalize.html>
• The Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs reviewed Canada's current anti-drug policies and legislation and reported in September 2002 that marijuana is not a gateway drug and should be treated more like tobacco or alcohol than harder drugs.
• The House of Commons Special Committee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs looked at an overall drug strategy for Canada and issued their report in December 2002. The House committee said that while marijuana is unhealthy, the current criminal penalties for possession and use of small amounts of cannabis are disproportionately harsh. They recommended that the Canadian Ministers of Justice and of Health come up with a strategy to decriminalize the possession and cultivation of not more than thirty grams of cannabis for personal use.^[25]
• Various estimates peg this country's cannabis trade at considerably more than $7 billion in annual sales—twice as much as pig farming brings in, and almost three times more than wheat does. Even the cattle industry, at $5.2 billion a year in revenue, lags behind the marijuana business for sheer size. Just as importantly, the report points out, every dollar reaped by government regulation of the pot industry would be a dollar taken away from the criminal gangs that run the industry today. In 2001, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said the federal government was spending close to $500 million a year fighting the drug trade. Roughly 95 per cent of that goes to enforcement and policing, and two-thirds of the country's 50,000 annual drug arrests are for cannabis offences.^[26]

In October 2007, Prime Minister Harper announced a new National Anti-Drug Strategy. A proposed Bill would have dealers facing one-year mandatory prison sentences if they’re operating for organized crime purposes, or if violence is involved. Dealers would also face a two-year mandatory jail sentence if they’re selling to youth, or dealing drugs near a school or an area normally frequented by youth. Additionally, people in Canada who run a large marijuana grow operation of at least 500 plants would risk facing a mandatory two-year jail term. Maximum penalties for producing cannabis would increase from 7 to 14 years.^[27]
Perhaps the biggest proposed policy change is mandatory six-month sentencing for those growing as little as one marijuana plant for the purposes of trafficking. If the Bill passes, this is also likely to be felt by small-time distributors who are not linked to the ring of organized crime, and who usually face no more than a fine if caught.^[28]
The Conservative Party now holds a majority government, with the NDP (New Democratic Party) as the official opposition.^[29] Previous attempts by past Liberal Governments in the late 1990s and early 2000s to decriminalize marijuana for personal use have failed to become law.^[30]
On September 20, 2011, the newly-elected Conservative majority government re-introduced an omnibus crime bill, Bill C-10. (formely known as the "Safe Streets and Communities Act") The bill combines more than 10 different pieces of previously unpassed criminal legislation, as well as proposing to amend the Criminal Code of Canada with respect to drug offences. This bill specifically targets growers, dealers and consumers of cannabis, introducing mandatory minimum sentences for the cultivation of modest amounts of cannabis. This proposed legislation has come under substantial criticism and scrutiny from opposition party MPs as well as numerous experts and intellectuals, particularly from the US. The position of the Harper government is notably in defiance of credible evidence of the harm caused by the decades of drug prohibition, contrary to many US states (most notably Texas), which are relaxing drug laws. The provinces of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have expressed their opposition towards bearing the likely great costs and other effects the bill will bring, particularly since the government has not yet disclosed the costs as well as some other information associated with the proposed legislation.^[31]








Legality of cannabis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 LINK:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_of_cannabis#Canada